Pictured (left to right): Dr. David Burley, Dr. Tracy Whalen and Dr. Alexander Freund

This has been a year of considerable UWFA activity. All three bargaining units have been in the process of negotiations, there has been an ongoing need for advocacy on a variety of issues, there have been an unusual number of Member-to-Member dispute situations, and we have experienced staffing changes and other internal issues.

Early this month, Follett – the company that now controls the UW Bookstore – announced that it would be closing its Ottawa offices and centralizing its operations in Oak Brook, Illinois. According to reports, Follett will be moving its trade book purchasing and sourcing to Illinois, while moving some of the other responsibilities to its bookstores in Canada.

The move to close the Canadian offices has caused serious concern for local publishers, including Wayne Antony of Fernwood Publishing. In a letter to Dr. Axworthy, he expressed concern that “only the largest national and international publishers will be able to effectively present their titles to the Follett buyer in Illinois. Local and Canadian publishers and authors have been, for the most part, shut out of the new U of W bookstore.”

(Ottawa – April 27, 2010) Delegates to the national Council of the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) meeting in Ottawa have voted unanimously to begin the process of censuring the University of Manitoba and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA).

The vote came after delegates discussed the findings of an ad-hoc committee of inquiry into the case of Dr. Larry Reynolds, which concluded that the University of Manitoba and the WRHA terminated his position without just cause or due process.

By Dr. Roewan Crowe, UWFA Member-at-Large

Pictured: Main Unit Bargaining Team (left to right) Dr. Richard Jochelson, Dr. Wendy Josephson, Ms. Lisa McGifford, Dr. James Currie

RC:  Can you tell me about your role as Chief Negotiator for the Main Bargaining Unit? How long have you been in this role? What does the position entail?

WJ: The UWFA Executive appointed me as Chief Negotiator for the Main Unit at the end of January, so I’ve been in the role for just over two months.

The Chief Negotiator leads the Negotiating Team throughout the process of negotiating a collective agreement and speaks on behalf of the Association at the bargaining table. So far, I’ve been participating in the Collective Bargaining Committee’s consultations with the Main Unit membership about what Members would like to see in the next collective agreement. Once the iterative process of establishing a mandate from the Members has been completed, I will work with the rest of the team (James Curry, Richard Jochelson, and Executive Director Lisa McGifford) to draft proposals in contract language and lead the team in negotiations with the Employer’s bargaining team. It will also be my responsibility to keep the UWFA Executive informed about what’s happening at the table.

By Tracy Whalen, UWFA Secretary

So much lies in a name. The typeface we know as Helvetica started life with the less striking—-and certainly less marketable—-Neue Haas Grotesk. Scientists have given us the Big Bang theory, Nemesis (or Death Star), and Black Hole, names that tap into human neuroses, love of cataclysm, and fascination with annihilation (at a distance, anyway). A form of argument about the value of a discovery, names can make a phenomenon worthy of notice. These values explain in part why we take such care in naming children and anything we hold dear.

Somewhere amidst the Dark Matter that makes up so much of our universe a committee is meeting. Made up of representatives of the Board of Regents, support staff, students, senior administrators and UWFA members, it will at length recommend a new Vice-President Academic to Lloyd Axworthy.

There is a lot not to like in this process. The committee makes use of headhunters and these do not come cheap. Senate will have no role in ratifying what is after all an academic appointment. But what I find most galling is its secrecy. Are we choosing a colleague or an undercover agent?

We would like to also thank all of our sponsors who donated prizes for the social:

Sorrentos, Casa Burrito, the YMCA, Soup, Sandwiches & More, Staples, UW Bookstore, UW Computer Store, the Wesmen, Twist, Out ‘n’ About Travel, Movie Village, Rumors, Thunder Rapids, Pure Escape, UWSA (Soma Café) and Zealous MediSpa.

This past week (April 22-25), I attended the 2010 Spring Council for the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) in Ottawa. This session included some of the standard fare: reports on administration and finance; annual reports from standing committees; the amendment of clauses in CAUT Policies and Issues; the presentation of awards. But one topic on the agenda—-diversity and representation on the Executive—-provoked debate and ultimately a change in CAUT by-law.

In a surprise press release today (1 April 2010), U of W announced that it had decided to cut back on administration and return to the governance structure that existed 20 years ago. Administration made this unexpected given the opportunity provided by the exodus of the current VP Academic.

It is difficult to write about this episode even after half a century. It was a brutal, angry affair that changed my life from academia to business. NOTHING in subsequent years in business, in politics or in sport touched the intensity of the Crowe Case.

In the 1950s Harry Crowe was not only a lecturer of History at United College, he was also one of the most popular, as good a teacher of undergrads as any in Canada. He was part of a small, but distinguished History department, which also included Stewart Reid, Ken McNaught and G. K. Brown, and which had close relationships with the History department at Fort Garry headed by W. L. Morton.

As we returned to campus after the 1958 summer break, rumours were swirling that Harry had done something awful. As events unfolded we learned that what he had done was write a letter to a colleague, which somehow never reached the colleague but was received by the administration. On the basis of that intercepted letter, Harry was fired.